Here is the recipe for my Sicilian grandmother’s delicious, handmade ricotta cheese. Excellent as a spread on freshly baked toast or as a topping on freshly made pasta.
| Servings: | 20 |
| Yield: | 20 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
- 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 (16 ounce) package macaroni
- 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until done. Drain.
- In a large skillet, saute onion, celery, and green pepper in butter or margarine until softened. Add ground beef and pork, and cook until meat is done. Drain well.
- Combine with stewed tomatoes, beans, salt, and pasta. Spread into two 9 x 13 inch baking pans. Top each pan with 1 cup cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 264 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 24 g |
| Cholesterol | 41 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 13 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 446 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I tried to remake the receipe my mom made in the 60’s. I don’t remember it being this dull. No spices??? This thing needs pasta sauce or something…….1
It tasted ok but really felt like it needed something to bring it all together better. In it’s current form it’s very dry and comes out really as just a loose collection of ingredients. It feels like there was some fundamental ingredient omitted like a cream soup base. Also confusing recipe in that only 1/2 cup of parmesan is listed in the ingredients list but then the recipe calls for use of 2 cups of cheese for the topping.
I liked it. I made some adjustments according to what I had on hand. I think next time I’ll use mozzarella instead to tie things together. Everything was very separated. Needs a little Italian seasoning too.
Really great and highly flexible dish. A few changes I made was using black beans and Mexican seasoned tomatoes instead of stewed. I like a little spicer so added some cayenne and a few diced jalapeños.
Love this recipe, but I made a couple of changes. The only meat I use is 1 pound of 93/7 ground turkey, I use veggie penne, and I usually do not bake it (it’s too hot in Texas is run the oven if you can avoid it.)
I omitted the green pepper and pork and doubled the tomatoes to up the veggie quotient. Very tasty!
I divided the recipe in two. Substitutions: no ground pork, no beans, used a large jar of of chunky spaghetti sauce, sprinkled shredded Italian cheese mix and baked for only 20 minutes. The family absolutely loved it and asked for it to be on the regular rotation! Good base recipe.
Would rate this a 10 if I could. Browned breakfast sausage (from this site) with 1 lb hamburger. Added onion, celery and red pepper. Mixed in undrained can tomatoes and green chilies and drained and rinsed can red kidney beans. Mixed cooked noodles with the meat mixture. Poured into greased baking dish. Topped with shredded provel cheese and sharp cheddar. Baked for 15 minutes. Very versatile recipe. Next time will melt Velveeta cheese on top.
delicious, made for wifes work, they loved it, and wanted more
This casserole is EXCELLENT. I like to add extra cheddar cheese, mushrooms and chilies to give it some extra kick… my friends love it. Thanks from a (formerly) hungry college student.
It just seemed that it was going to be too dry for my likings so I added a little flour to my meat/veggie mixture (to thicken) and then added a can of beef broth, making a gravy/sauce before adding the tomatoes, beans and a can of mushrooms. Also added some mozzarella to the sauce and then seasoned to taste w/salt & pepper. I did top w/parmesan & baked as directed. 🙂 Sorry. Not really a review of the original recipe but thanks for the idea for a quick after work meal for my family.
I changed this recipe a little. I omitted the stewed tomatoes and added jar prego sauce. I also left out the kidney beans. I also added provolone and mild cheddar cheeses.